The Parable of the Great Young Girl
There was a young girl who was very, very concerned about climate change. She spoke out, saying that she was worried that people were not doing enough to preserve the planet. She worried that one day, people would not even have air to breathe. Many people people tried to ignore her, thinking she was just a foolish girl, and what did she know about how the world worked. Others openly mocked her, telling her that if she was so concerned about the problem, that she should stop breathing, because her own life was making the problem worse – breathing in fresh air and breathing out carbon dioxide. Some very rich people hired some goons to harass her on Twitter, and make up false stories about her and her family.
The girl told the people who were mocking her that she was sorry for them. And she told everyone that she thought it was because her parents loved her so much that she was able to breathe in the toxic exhaust of the people who mocked her, and still work towards a world where everyone would have air to breathe, and that she hoped her words would have enough life in them to make up for the oxygen she was consuming.
This only made the rich people madder, for they had long ago abandoned their compassion and humanity in their quest for more wealth, and they doubled their efforts to belittle her. But others who were watching what was happening could not forget the words of the little girl, and they began to think about their own breathing for the first time.